Getting Rid of Fleas

Fleas tend to infest our house particularly in a warm and humid climate. These tiny brown, wingless insects get into the house by riding on the thick fur of your cuddly pets. They are parasitic in nature and live on the body of your pet to obtain food for themselves. Basically, they survive on blood sucked out from pets and humans of your house. Once they enter the house, getting rid of fleas become really very difficult. This is mainly because their number grows at a very rapid pace. Each and every female flea can lay around 50 eggs daily.

Getting Rid of Fleas Naturally

Most people opt for getting rid of fleas naturally as it does not involve use of any such chemicals that can cause harm to the pets and children in the house. For total fleas control in the house, it is important to get rid of fleas from pets and humans as well.

Getting Rid of Fleas in the Home
As the fleas often attack soft fabrics like carpets, mattress, upholstery, drapes, cushions, etc., thorough vacuum cleaning of these items can pick up both the pupae and adult fleas from them. Also, vacuum clean all other areas of the house where the chances of presence of fleas are higher. After the cleaning job is over, dispose off the vacuum cleaner bag into a trash can outside the house as soon as possible. This way you can eradicate most of the fleas in house but there are still chances that some of them are still left behind in some nook and cranny of the house. An effective way of flea extermination is by using table salt and cleaning powder. Prepare a mixture by adding up one part of table salt and 8 parts of cleaning powder and spread it all over the house. Let the mixture work on the fleas for the next one week and then vacuum clean your house once again and your house will be free from fleas.

Getting Rid of Fleas on Pets
This involves not just cleaning up of the pets but also all those items that are being used by them. Wash thoroughly all those things that your pets use regularly starting from their bedding to scatter rugs to throw pillows. Then place them under direct sun for drying. This is done because when exposed to the heat of the sun, dog fleas or cat fleas fail to tolerate it and they die. Now, focus on getting rid of fleas from your pet's body. For this, you need to prepare a lemon extract solution at home by soaking a few slices of lemon into boiling water overnight. This will release the citrus oils into the water that can kill the fleas effectively. Next morning, apply this solution on different parts of their body with special attention to the areas like back of the head, behind the ears and armpits. Then give them a good bath with a special flea shampoo made up of one cup of mild dishwashing soap to which two teaspoons of eucalyptus oil has been added. Finally, brush their fur using a flea comb.

Getting Rid of Fleas on Humans
Fleas on humans can cause itching, irritation and various types of skin infections. Besides, they can transmit many other diseases from one person to the other. Fleas can attack any part of the body but getting rid of them from the hair roots is the most difficult part. Therefore, thorough cleaning of the body and the hair is a must in order to get rid of those annoying fleas. Use hot water to take a bath. Keep the water in your bathtub as hot as you can tolerate and add a cup of mild dishwashing detergent and one cup of lemon extract into it. Both these ingredients are effective in killing the fleas of your body. Immerse your body into the tub of water for sometime and then start scrubbing from head to toe with a sponge or abrasive cloth. Give extra care to the areas like the back of the neck, areas near the ears, in between the toes, and the joints. Shampoo your hair with any shampoo that you use regularly but keep it on your hair for half an hour or so. Soon after bathing, comb your hair when it is still in wet condition. This will help to bring out the fleas out of your hair. Take a bath following this method twice a week to remove all the fleas from the body.

After getting rid of fleas from the house, you must take suitable measures so that they do not come back and bother you and your pets again. While washing those areas where your pets spend maximum time, add some white vinegar to the water. If you keep eucalyptus in various areas of the house, they stay fresh for several months. Moreover, you and your family members will like its fresh smell, but the fleas don't like it and they would stay away from your house.